“There is a great deal to do and many details to be filled in, and much careful work to be undertaken over the coming days, weeks and months. We need to mourn the dead and then act to protect the living.”

2. Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction” (2002)

Just over one year after parliament was recalled following the events of 9/11, parliament was summoned again to discuss the dossier which supposedly set out an explanation of Iraq’s WMDs, according to parliamentary records.

4. Riots (2011)

“These are sickening scenes – scenes of people looting, vandalising, thieving, robbing, scenes of people attacking police officers and even attacking fire crews as they are trying to put out fires.”

5. Syria (2013)

David Cameron recalled the parliament at the end of August 2013 to discuss the escalating war in Syria in the wake of revelations about use of chemical weapons, according to the BBC. The recall led to a vote on intervening in which Cameron was defeated thanks to numerous Tory MPs voting with Ed Miliband's Labour, as reported by the Guardian.

Following the death of the UK’s first female prime minister, parliament was recalled to remember her. The recall was a particularly unusual one as the death of a former leader does not usually trigger a recall of parliament, with the Guardian reporting that the Speaker John Bercow was “taken aback” by David Cameron’s recall request.

On top of that, the paper reports that the parliamentary tributes lasted over seven hours – well over the hour or so long slots allocated to remember other former prime ministers.

Richard Wood

Richard Wood is a Masters student in Political Research at the University of Aberdeen and is Head of Media for campaign-group TalkPolitics. Other than politics, he is passionate about travel, running, and writing, as well as all things space-related.